roadtripconversations

Some of the best conversations take place on a road trip...especially at night. Life is a journey...a road trip to our rightful home...and these are some of my thoughts along the way.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Sweet Little Tiffany

Except for my 2 year stint of being "suave and sassy" in New Orleans, I have always been "cute and chunky." During middle school that was not always a good thing to be because kids can be cruel. Though I was popular and athletic...I was still picked on at times. My 8th grade year my class took a trip to Otter Creek Park to do a little camping, repeling, and splunking. It was great!!!! My fondest memory of that trip took place in a cave while we were...splunking. Just saying that makes me sound extreme. :) It was a pretty rough adventure, but fun. There were 25 boys in my class and only 5 girls (including me). For the most part we had all gone to school together since kindergarden, so we were tight. Anyway...we came to a part in the cave where we had to be lifted and pulled onto this rock. Well needless to say...being "fluffy" and having to depend on someone else to help me get on this rock was a little overwhelming for my sensitive heart. But...Paul Edwards came to my rescue. For that moment the boys in my class pulled together to help me. No one laughed. No one made any bad comment. Later Matt Kialein asked me if I was alright. ( He used to love to tease me in the 6th grade) But with their support and encouragement I made it. That moment still resonates inside of me. Nine years later I was a semester missionary in New Orleans (before seminary). I worked with my sweet little inner city babies. I taught Bible Club and I was a tutor...but more than that I was just there whenever they needed me. One day I decided to take my 2nd and 3rd graders to the playground so they could be kids. There was only 1 swing. It was pretty high so the kids had to jump into the swing from the ground. Well one of my kids...sweet little tiffany...reminded me of myself. She was cute and fluffy and she was having a little trouble getting into the swing. Before I could go over and help her...the class came together and lifted her onto the swing. The look on her face. The look on my face. Of course she was a journal entry that night. It is amazing what we can do we are encouraged and supported.
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith..."- Hebrews 12:1-2a
I hear Abraham, Moses, Hannah, Ruth, Samuel, Peter, Paul, Mary mother of Jesus....cheering me on. Encouraging me through their stories. They struggled, they believed, they asked questions, they cried out...and Jehovah Raah...the God who sees...walked with them every step. And that same God that spoke to them and wrote their story...is the same Powerful, Loving, God who speaks to me as He writes my story.
Boston is a gift. I know that. Getting there...from here...though a gift as well...is a little bit harder. But I press on and allow those who have gone before me to encourage me along the way.

2 Comments:

  • At 9:36 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I think that you are still pretty "suave and sassy"!!!

    "You mean to tell me that you have a 12 story building and you don't own a phone!" (in the words of Vanessa Huxtable)

    Nicole :-)

     
  • At 5:17 PM, Blogger Nicole said…

    I find this post to be encouraging in the strangest ways...weird how often i forget about those people who came before us cheering us on.

     

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